Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I wrote a more extensive review in the Tai Cheng Base Kit page of amazon. In that review, I explain more of who should use this program and why. This review is just to give a comparison between the 2 kits. To start, the Master Kit is really what the Base kit should've been from the start! Here are the differences ... Master Kit has: - Rumble Roller for Deep Massage - Weighted Gloves to allow you to really feel each arm movement - High Resistance Strength Band to allow you to really feel each leg movement - Master Class Wall Calendar - Qi Gong DVD - Master Class DVD Here's why those differences matter ... - The Rumble Roller is ESSENTIAL. You must have both the foam and rumble roller to do this course correctly. The Foam Roller helps you ease into very tight and painful spots. However, after a few weeks, those painful spots become less painful. It's time to switch to the Rumble Roller! This Roller allows you to get down deep into those spots. You might do the Rumble Roller for 1 day, then go back to the Foam Roller for 2 days. Ease into the Rumble Roller for a couple weeks. Eventually, that sore spot becomes easy to do with the Rumble Roller every day. It gives you a MASSIVE sense of accomplishment. You are definitely healing those tough areas. - The Weighted Gloves and Heavy Resistance Bands add a whole new dimension to your movements. The yellow/light resistance band is really too light to feel much. The Red/Heavy Resistance Band is strong enough to allow you to feel what you're doing. Like the Foam Roller vs. the Rumble Roller, you want to learn the Tai Chi movements with No Resistance. Then when you want to really tune in, the added resistance helps you feel your muscle and joints working in harmony. These weights are NOT to "build muscle" nor should you think of them that way. They are solely to help you gain a sense of balance and coordination that you couldn't get without them. - Master Class Wall Calendar. This is fairly self-explanatory. The Master Class includes the Qi Gong and Master Class DVDs. The calendar shows when to do those 2 DVDs. The rest is identical to the normal 90 Day/13 week calendar. - The Qi Gong DVD. This takes you through The Energizing Series (warm up) and the "8 Pieces of Brocade." These are 8 basic Qi Gong stretches. I like this DVD because it's more Eastern thinking. You're supposed to feel your chi and breathe with the movements. This is a VERY easy workout but don't underestimate it: it's unusually invigorating. I've found myself using it in the mornings to stretch or anytime I just feel out of it. Mark Cheng teaches you in 3 components: The Energizing Series, The 1st Four Pieces of Brocade and The 2nd Four Pieces of Brocade. The problem with this DVD is that there are stops between each component. This makes sense for teaching, however once you've learned the movements, Mark should've had a section where you go through the entire sequence smoothly. - The Master Class DVD. To explain the Master Class DVD, I have to back up a bit. * For those who have NOT seen much about this program, it's a 90 day or 13 week program. The main classes (non-Master) progressively teach you 18 Tai Chi movements. The program teaches you those movements by dividing the 18 movements into 3 Sequences. Each Sequence contains 6 moves. Sequence 1 contains moves 1-6. Sequence 2 contains moves 7-12. Sequence 3 contains moves 13-18. The first 9 weeks progressively teaches you all 3 sequences (1 sequence every 3 weeks). Weeks 10-13 are dedicated to combining those 18 movements. In the Base Kit, the workouts for Week 12 & 13 are identical, so they create only a Week 12/13 DVD. However, instead of delivering the classes in 1 smooth 18 movement flow, the Base Kit videos just replays the exact same video you viewed in previous weeks. You end up doing sequence 1 then 2 then 3. This is important because you must reset your footwork after each sequence. This may not seem important as you're reading it but in practice, it's a little off-putting. The Master Class DVD helps to correct the problem created by the Week 12/13 DVD by doing all 18 movements in 1 smooth flow instead of in 3 broken sequences. * Another important aspect for those who have never experienced the program is the Neural Reboot. The Neural Reboot is NOT Tai Chi practice. EVERY workout (except Qi Gong) starts with a Neural Reboot and ends with Tai Chi. The reboot is the part where you REALLY start breaking up the tight muscles and trigger points throughout your body. There are 4 Neural Reboots, each one progressively more difficult than the last. * With all that in mind ... The Master Class gives you all 18 Tai Chi movements at once so you do NOT break up the flow. It also offers 3 classes: slow, moderate and fast. Doing the classes at different paces REALLY helps train very different aspects of your coordination and balance. However, the Master Class doesn't contain Neural Reboot 4 which you are supposed to do before the Tai Chi movements. You have to move back and forth between the Week 12/13 DVD and the Master Class DVD to get the full workout which is ... frustrating. At least the flow of the Tai Chi itself is not broken up. Final Thoughts: I LIKE Tai Cheng and it will get you great results. However, I have to give it 4 Stars. 1. There is no reason to start with a "Base Kit" just to upgrade to the "Master Kit." The Master Kit doesn't offer anything I wouldn't immediately recommend to a beginner. The Base Kit seems unnecessary and incomplete. So unless money is huge issue, START with the Master Kit. 2. Even in the Master Kit, they get the logistics off. The Master Class should have included Neural Reboot 4 and the Qi Gong video should've had a smooth flow of the entire Qi Gong sequence. 3. A general complaint about the Tai Cheng program is logistics (again). It takes too long to get into the videos. They have 2 FBI Warnings and a brief "Beachbody intro" before the main screen which cannot be bypassed. You have to choose if you want the music on/off before you start, which is ridiculous because the music is soft and barely noticeable. There's too much clicking through, exchanging out of DVDs and WAY WAY too many commercials for Beachbody product. It was simply NOT well thought through from the perspective of "is this convenient for the user?" 4. Nothing I stated above is reason enough to NOT buy the program. It dramatically improves flexibility, balance & coordination. After 90 days, you'll have less pain, be more aligned and generally feel better ESPECIALLY if you follow the diet plan. This program is a chiropractors DREAM. It will help you stay in alignment! My secret wish is that it becomes standard practice for chiro offices to offer the Tai Cheng Master Kit to their patients. The Master Kit is superior to the Base Kit. It's where everyone should start if they want all the benefits this program offers. The Base Kit simply will not give you the depth of muscle relief and added flexibility which come from the Rumble Roller and Qi Gong DVD. It will not give you the added control the Master Class DVD offers. I think those results are essential to what Tai Cheng is about. 5. If you have the money, get both the large Foam Roller & Rumble Roller. The Master Kit class only sells the small versions (5"x12"). The large ones (6"x31") allow you to work at a level of depth the smaller ones just don't get. These can be found on amazon: $20 for the Large Foam, $70 for the Large Rumble. I hope this review helps you decide if this product is right for you! :-)